Category Archives: India

India, Rajasthan and Gujarat 5th to 18th of February 2025

Traveling again

On the 3rd of February after my work-day I still packed the last things to my luggage and after Hanna came from work we still had a long WhatsApp-call to Uganda to my old friend. After all it was a long call and we really had to hurry to the railway-station where Hanna dropped me just before the train left at 4:31 p.m.

In Vantaa Tikkurila I changed to a train that took me to the airport and there I headed to Comfort Xpress Hotel where I had booked a room. Then I still went to the airport to eat before I was ready to go to sleep early.

On the 4th of February I had the wake up too early and at 5 a.m. I walked to the airport where I met the rest of the group: Vesa Jouhki, Andreas Uppstu, Matti Soini, Gustaf Nordenswan and Frans Silvenius.

It was surprisingly quiet in the airport so soon we had managed to get rid of our luggage, gone through the security check and found the right gate where to wait for our flight. Our Lufthansa flight left at 7 a.m. to Frankfurt where we landed just before 9 a.m. local time.

In Germany the security checks were really thorough but finally we were again at the right gate. Our Lufthansa flight to Delhi left a little bit late at 1:30 p.m.

It was a long flight and there weren’t any good movies to watch. Luckily after all I managed to sleep some hours before the plane landed to Delhi, India about an hour after midnight.

Around Delhi

On the 5th of February we found our luggage but we really had to wait for a long time for Matti’s luggage. Again it was surprisingly quiet in the airport so we managed to get through many complicated formalities to the terminal lobby.

Then we were just sitting tired on the benches as our trip-organizer Sathyan Meppayur was arriving to the same airport but different terminal from his home Kerala. Finally we managed to contact him and after some searching we found him and our another guide Sunil Kumar outside the terminal. Soon we were carrying our luggage to the parking place where we met our driver too.

It was still completely dark but in the city-lights the view looked foggy because of pollution. Soon we were driving towards our first birding place southwestern side of Delhi. Finally we parked along a busy road where we just waited for the dawn. Some even managed to sleep before we continued a short way to Haryan Gurugram Budhera and parked our car.

We were next to some pools which were full of birds but it was still too dark to identify most of them. So we started walking towards a canal where Andreas had eBird-spots for a couple of our target-species. There we started trying to hear or see White-crowned Penduline Tit and West Himalayan Bush Warbler.

My first lifer of the trip was a Red-naped Ibis whic we saw both flying over and then found one that was feeding on the ground too. And after some walking we found the first flock of Striated Babblers, and then along the canal we found a small flock of Sind Sparrows which was lifer for others too. A couple of flocks of short-toed larks were flying over us and these birds sounded weird – only later we realized that on this area there are Hume’s Short-toed Larks. Also several prinia-species, a couple of Hume’s Warblers and so on were seen and we also saw our first Northern Palm Squirrels.

The species that we had been dreaming on were still missing until we heard a couple of calls of a White-crowned Penduline Tit. But we couldn’t see it at all and we had heard it only shortly so it wasn’t enough.

We drove to another eBird-spot but it didn’t seem to be good for our target-species. But we met a few local birders who told us that West Himalayan Bush Warblers hadn’t been heard at all in a couple of weeks. They had either left or just stopped singing. But these birders were going to give another to find them so we followed them to the place where we had already been trying.

When we got to the spot we heard and saw briefly a Cetti’s and a Moustached Warbler and then I heard very clear calls of a White-crowned Penduline Tit. We played some playback and it was answering many times but for some reason it didn’t come any closer. But this time we all heard it very clearly. Locals told us that they actually had never seen this species even though they were visiting the place weekly. So it was very lurky species!

But we couldn’t find any West Himalayan Bush Warblers even though we still tried for some time. We also walked again a little in the area and found a couple of Rosy Pipits, more Streaked Babblers and so on. One of us got a lifer from a Black Francolin and also a Eurasian Wryneck was nice to see. And of course we got lots of other trip-ticks.

But finally we had to give up and we continued to Chandu wetland where we right away found a flock of Bar-headed Geese with a single Lesser White-fronted Goose which was wintering with them – a really good Indian tick and always nice bird to see!

We put up a couple of telescopes and found about 20 River Terns, lots of waders, for example about 200 Black-winged Stilts, a couple of Pied Avocets, 10 Little Ringed Plovers, a few Black-headed Gulls, lots of ducks and so on.

But soon we realized that we were in a hurry as we had plenty of driving to do. So we still quickly checked the pools that we had seen too early in the morning and found a Knob-billed Duck and of course more waders.

Next we continued to Sultanpur National Park where we were just walking along the road and tried to find Brook’s Leaf Warblers from the trees on the other side of fence of the National Park. The traffic was very bad and loud so it was difficult to hear anything but after some walking we heard promising calls. But we managed to see only one warbler and it looked like a Greenish Warbler. Anyway I recorded also the promising calls so we have to try to identify it later. Along the road we saw also a Rufous Treepie and a Large Grey Babbler.

Towards Rajasthan

But finally we had to start driving and still in Haryana we saw an Oriental Honey Buzzard. We drove slowly along truck-filled roads through untidy villages and cities and tried to avoid hitting cows that were eating plastic on the roadsides. We continued towards south and only observations we made were some Rhesus Macaques sitting on the roofs of rundown roofs and stonewalls.

After a few hours driving we stopped in Uttar Pradesh state in the middle of fields and Sunil pointed us a flock of distant Sarus Cranes that were feeding on the field. On a small pond nearby we saw also a couple of Knob-billed Ducks, a Lesser Whistling Duck, both Indian and Little Cormorants and so on.

Finally after one more hour driving and after we had crossed the border of Rajasthan, we arrived at Bharatpur. We were there so late that we hadn’t got time to do any birding anymore even though it had been our ordinary plan. But we had been doing lots of extra in the morning that hadn’t been in our schedule at all. We parked our car in front of Hotel Sunbird which situated right next to Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary. And once we had got our rooms, we still kept the log before the dinner and then it was really nice to go to sleep early.

Trip to Chambal

On the 6th of February we left the hotel at 5 a.m. and took breakfast with us. After one and a half hour driving we parked to the western side of Dholpur to bushy steppe-area. It was still a bit dark but anyway we started walking on the steppe. Right away we found a few Yellow-wattled Lapwings but then it took some time before we found anything really interesting. There were surprisingly few birds but finally Vesa found a couple of Indian Bush Larks which we managed to photograph quite well.

While we were having the breakfast along the road I saw a bird flushing from the road-side and flying straight away and disappearing behind the closest sand-dunes. I had no idea what it was. First I thought that it was a Shikra but something didn’t fit. When we were walking around the area again Andreas found the same bird again and it was a Common Hawk-Cuckoo.

We got plenty of trip-ticks but only better birds were a couple of Asian Openbills, a few Bronzy-winged and a single Pheasant-tailed Jacana, a Blue Rock Thrush and a locally rare Little Heron. We also heard a Jungle Bush Quail.

Pretty soon after we had left we stopped in village of Chandpur just to find out that the dark bird which had caused the stop was only a Black Redstart. But surprisingly a couple of Indian Grey Hornbills flushed from the closest tree so it was a good stop after all. And after some more driving we found the right dark bird and managed to get good pictures of a tame Brown Rock Chat. And on the next stop we still saw a Large Grey Babbler.

Then it was time to start driving towards Chambal Sanctuary where we had booked a boat-trip to the river. We crossed Madhya Pradesh state border and when we were driving down towards the river we saw a few Indian Peafowls and a couple of Golden Jackals. Once we had parked our car we met our boat-driver and soon we were boarding into our boat.

We didn’t have to drive far because already on the first small island there were plenty to watch and photograph! First we saw something else than birds – a few Gavials and Mugger Crocodiles!

But on the same island there were also a couple of weird-looking Great Stone-curlews, a few River Lapwings and a couple of White-browed Wagtails.

We continued along the river towards south and soon saw a couple of Ruddy Shelducks, a young Pallas’s Gull flying over, a couple of Egyptian Vultures and then Andreas saw a tern perched on a sand in the middle of the river in very bad light. He took some pictures of this distant bird but we were passing it pretty far as in front of us there was another small island full of birds. And soon we were counting Indian Skimmers – 123 of them. But there were no tern on the island so we started to get a little bit worried.

Andreas was watching his pictures of the distant tern and he thought it had been a Black-bellied Tern. Most of us hadn’t seen the bird at all. I had seen it but it had been very far and in impossible light. Soon we saw 3 terns flying over us but they were River Terns. There was a also a Bonelli’s Eagle soaring on the sky an Eastern Cattle Egret hanging on its claws and soon we saw another bird on their nest.

Luckily soon our driver noticed a tern perched on the other side of the river and we slowly drove closer and saw that it was a Black-bellied Tern. We managed to get pretty close and get nice pictures of this bird. And soon it was time to start driving back towards the harbor. On the way we saw that the bird that Andreas had photographed was still there and it indeed was a Black-bellied Tern and soon we saw also a third bird.

When we were back at the harbor we still saw a Long-legged Buzzard and saw people queuing on the bridge to a small gap where they could drop their rubbish to the river. They were dropping paintings and furniture and everything possible! But soon it was time to say goodbye to our captain and start driving back towards Bharatpur.

But we weren’t driving straight route but made a quite long detour on the way. Luckily there weren’t too much traffic and finally we saw Bayana cliffs in front of us. And right away I saw a big Indian Vulture flying in front of the cliffs. We parked soon and luckily the vulture was still flying against the mountain. Later we found a few more Indian Vultures perched on the cliff and it was good to tick this extremely rare bird.

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

After lunch there were three-wheeled electric rickshaws waiting for us in the parking place. We got into the vehicles in pairs and soon we were at the gate of Bharatpur Geoladeo Ghana National Park where we got the tickets and then drove along a good paved road inside the park.

It was easy to see that we were late on our ordinary schedule as we were hurrying all the time. There were birds all around us but we were stopping only for the most interesting ones. The local guide was on the first rickshaw and like always we weren’t told too much about what was happening. Finally after we had passed many well-showing Indian Peafowls, we stopped to see a perched Spotted Owl. On the next stop we saw a very well hidden Indian Scops Owl but luckily on the next stop there was another one looking out from their nest-hole.

We passed several Nilgais and a couple of Chitals that were hiding behind the bushes. On the wetland we could see lots of egrets, storks, ducks, cormorants and so on and finally we stopped to look at them. There were hundreds of Painted Storks but also about 800 Gadwalls, 300 Red-crested Pochards, 100 Tufted Ducks, 5 Ferruginous Ducks, 2500 Eurasian Coots, 200 Common Moorhens, 100 Grey-headed Swamphens, 50 Little Grebes and so on. Better species were a very distant Black-necked Stork, a few Steppe and Eastern Imperial Eagles, the first White-eared Bulbuls of the trip and so on. On the wetland there were cows and water buffalos but also plenty of Nilgais. I could have easily spent a day or several on this place photographing birds and animals but we were soon hurrying again.

On the next stop we saw a very well hiding Black Bittern and soon we were photographing a Yellow Bittern which was showing much better. I also got some pictures of other egrets and herons. But soon we continued to the end of the road and continued walking along a smaller road.

We tried to find a Brown Crake for some time but without luck. And soon the sun started to set and some Indian Flying Foxes that were hanging upside down from the branches started to fly. We still were watching the huge numbers of birds for some time before we had to start driving back towards the gate.

On the way back we still stopped to watch and photograph another Black Bittern which was showing quite nicely and we also saw a flock of about 50 Great White Pelicans landing far to the lake.

We still asked if there was a possibility to twitch a Dusky Eagle-Owl as we knew that they had been twitched from or at least close to their nest. But for some reason it was impossible. We were never told why we couldn’t try this lifer. They had been twitched almost daily before and also after our trip.

Our day was over when we parked in front of our hotel and it was time to keep the log again and have dinner. And again we managed to get to sleep early enough.

Detour

On the 7th of February we had again a huge detour to our ordinary plan. We had decided to give a try to one more Indian endemic for which the best place was in Ranthambore. I was happy to do this extra-trip because it gave me an opportunity to try to see a Tiger too as Ranthambore is one of the best places to see it in India.

It was a long drive southeast but I managed to sleep a little in the car. On the way we saw a couple of Indian Grey Hornbills in flight, a single Spotted Dove and the first Bengal Sacred Langurs of the trip.

When we got to Ranthambore we bought tickets inside the National Park and soon were driving inside a forest. There were plenty of big cars and buses coming towards us as tiger-twitchers were going to breakfast.

After a couple of kilometers Sunil told we were in a good place for our target-species. And almost immediately he found a couple of Painted Spurfowls walking slowly in the shadows under the bushes. It took some time for some of our group to see the birds but after all the male stopped in an open place and with Andreas we managed to get really good pictures of this endemic.

Our long detour had been success already so I hoped we now had plenty of time to try Tigers. But after some hundreds of meters driving we surprisingly made a U-turn and turned back and were soon outside the National Park. I don’t know why we did so but our guides weren’t the most talkative people. We saw an Asian Woolly-necked Stork, a couple of Sambars and a Ruddy Mongoose but I wasn’t too happy for the effortless try to see Tigers.

And soon we drove to the most boring-looking dry bushy hill-area to try to find a Rock Bush Quail. We were walking in hot temperature between the bushes that were full of thorns and the same extremely sharp thorns were also on the ground everywhere and they went right though the bottom of shoes. I wouldn’t have been too happy with a small chicken as there might have been something more interesting to see but after all we didn’t find it either.

We did see a single Barred Buttonquail and some 20 Alexandrine and 50 Plum-headed Parakeets, a Coppersmith Barbet and 10 Large Grey Babbler and I saw a Dusky Crag Martin flying over us.

We still tried to find Rock Bush Quail on another place where we found a flock of about 30 Indian Stone-curlews. It was another lifer for me but I would have changed at least 29 of them to a single Tiger…

At noon it was time to start a long drive towards north-west to Jaipur. We ate lunch that we had with us next to some big pool where we saw plenty of ducks, waders and egrets and so on but nothing new. And soon we kept on driving again.

Finally we arrived at Jaipur where we had an accommodation in Hotel Arya Niwas. It was in the middle of this huge 3 million inhabitant city which we really had hoped to avoid. But the hotel was nice and food was good but once again we didn’t have much time to enjoy it.

Tal Chhapar

On the 8th of February we left already at 3 a.m. as we had another long drive south-west to Tal Chhapar. On the way I managed to sleep again a little and we were in the right place just when the sun was beginning to rise.

Andreas had an exact point where our target-bird had been seen last time so our group was soon marching towards it through a dry semi-desert area.

I thought that we were walking too fast and not really birding and stayed behind and took some pictures of Common Babblers and then started to think what could be the best way to find our target-bird. I saw some bigger trees nearby where the sun had just started to shine. Matti was also walking slowly and I said to him that after a cold night I would be warming up on those trees if I was our target-bird. We walked towards the trees and immediately I found an Indian Spotted Creeper that was climbing on the first tree.

The creeper flew soon to the next trees but luckily the rest of our group came quickly and we found the bird again. It stayed on the tree-trunk for a minute or two before it continued to the next trees and then further to another small forest.

There were plenty of Blackbucks walking and running on the open areas. Some handsome males were walking gracefully chest up while females were much shier. There were also carcasses and smelly cows were left here and there for the vultures.

We saw several Egyptian Vultures and also a stunning Cinereous Vulture. Our group was again walking around the area and more birds were soon found like several White-browed Fantails, a Bay-backed Shrike, a Great Grey Shrike, a Yellow-crowned Woodpecker and some Yellow-throated Sparrows. We saw also at least 2 more Indian Spotted Creepers but they didn’t stop for the pictures at all.

But after all we had to keep on going again. But we didn’t drive long until “Gusse” noticed a flock of Yellow-footed Green Pigeons on one tree. Then we tried to find a place where to see well inside Tal Chhapar Sanctuary where had been several recent sightings of both Laggar and Red-necked Falcon. After some driving we found an open place but there wasn’t very good visibility to the park which had surprisingly high walls. It might have been OK place to see flying falcons but for some reason we gave up almost immediately and kept on driving towards west again.

Jorbeer

After a few boring hours of driving we finally saw a Laggar Falcon in flight. It stayed soaring over us so we managed to get some pictures too. And soon we saw another bird that landed to its nest which was on an electricity-pylon.

Finally we curved to Jorbeer rubbish-tip area where we immediately found a huge flock of Yellow-eyed Pigeons perching on the electricity-pylons and wires. We counted 2000 birds that were wintering here as they are breeding in Central-Asia.

There were plenty of eagles and vultures soaring over the rubbish tip so soon we continued to conservation reserve where we parked outside the gate. But for some reason we didn’t go into the area – again nothing was explained to us. So we had to stay outside the gates and try to watch and photograph distant birds.

There were lots of Egyptian and Griffon Vultures, but also some Cinereous Vultures, a single White Stork and then we saw at least one Himalayan Vulture. We also saw a huge flock of about 5000 Rosy Starlings in flight!

But then it was driving-time again and we still had a few hours to go. Through the window I saw a couple of Variable Wheatears on the way but finally we arrived at Kcheechan village where we stayed in Kurja Resort.

Demoiselle Cranes – lots of them!

On the 9th of February we slept a little bit longer and then drove only a short distance to Kcheechan where we climbed to a roof of one house almost in the middle of the village. On the next property there was an open area about size of a football field where Demoiselle Cranes were coming to feed every morning.

It was still too early but the owner of the house and the feeder of the cranes showed us many articles about the site. Soon the first flocks of Demoiselle Cranes started flying over the village but they landed to a semi-deserted area behind the village. After some waiting the first crane with broken leg arrived and started feeding but then it still took some time before the big flocks started to come.

But finally there were flocks coming everywhere and they all landed to this small area in front of us. Unfortunately light was pretty difficult to get good pictures but it was getting slowly better. But of course the part of our group who weren’t photographers and had already got their tick, started to get anxious.

With Andreas we kept on photographing the cranes but the rest of the group was soon standing on the street next to our car as they wanted to go to breakfast. We were really enjoying photographing Demoiselle Cranes and I could have easily stayed there for whole day but after all we had to give up and leave.

After the breakfast we found a Variable Wheatear from the garden and soon we had to start driving towards west again. It was a long drive to Jaisalmer. On the way we saw more Variable Wheatears, a couple of Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouses, a Tawny Eagle, a Common Buzzard and so on.

To desert

In Jaisalmer we took pictures of old fort that has been built in 1156 and has been announced a Unesco World Heritage Site status. Then we went to eat and soon continued driving to the middle of the desert.

Because it wasn’t too late yet, we still went birding to Desert National Park. For some reason there was nobody at the gate, so we just drove inside the park. Soon we stopped to walk in the desert in a good-looking area and found an Isabelline Shrike, a couple of Desert Warblers and a distant Raven. There were big flocks of Greater Short-toed and Bimaculated Larks flying over us and we also saw the first Chinkaras and a couple of Spiny-tailed Lizards.

We still saw some common desert-birds and at Sam sand-dunes there were plenty of dromedaries waiting for tourists to go for a ride. Finally we continued along a bad road to Prince Desert Camp where we were welcomed with traditional way by a beautiful woman. She gave us a red bindi to our forehead and threw rose petals over us while a drummer was playing.

Soon there was a local dance and music show in the middle of the garden and I went to look at it before the dinner. We went soon to out tents and tried to sleep but the show lasted until 10 p.m. But then it was quiet and we could fall asleep.

Desert National Park area

On the 10th of February we drove to Musa’s Wild Expedition parking place where we met our local guides and climbed to their Jeeps and soon were driving towards Desert National Park and maybe the most awaited morning of the whole trip – at least for me.

We drove straight to a smaller road that went to the middle of the desert and again we saw big flocks of Greater Short-toed and Bimaculated Larks and on the first stop we saw our first Black-crowned Sparrow-Larks.

When we kept on going it seemed clear that we were searching for our main target-species of the whole trip – Great Indian Bustards. We were on the back-car and soon stopped to a place where the first car was already parked. We didn’t know why they had stopped but soon I saw a Siberian Stonechat on a top of on bush. When the first car left, I saw another bird flying to the same bush and this looked different and it started to pump its chest funnily – a female White-browed Bush Chat! We tried to call to our friends on the first car but there was no connection. So we soon had to follow them.

We continued driving along the fence until our guide said calmly: “a Bustard”. He stopped and after some scanning we also managed to see one very distant Great Indian Bustard between some bushes. The first car also reversed to see the bird but it was clear that we could see the bird better if we drive a little bit forward. And soon we saw several bustards!

After all we saw at least 9 Great Indian Bustards in this sparse flock but these birds were unfortunately quite far and because of the fence there was no way to get any closer. We could see them really well with telescopes but of course photos weren’t that good. And once we were sure that the birds weren’t coming any closer, we decided to move on. And of course right then we saw two of these birds flying. We stopped and managed to get some distant flight-pictures too.

Next we continued to a bushy area where after some searching we found a female White-browed Bush Chat for the rest of the group too. This individual was showing extremely well. We also managed to get pictures of an Egyptian Vulture that passed us pretty close.

Soon the day was getting very hot so we continued to Musa’s Desert Nest to rest and spend some time before the evening trip. We also ate lunch that our driver had brought from our own accommodation. Then we were either resting, scanning the sky or some were even walking on the desert in extremely hot weather but nothing new was found.

We left birding again at 3 p.m. and headed straight to one rocky hill where we immediately found a couple of Red-tailed Wheatears, a couple of Desert Larks, a small flock of Trumpeter Finches and a couple of Black-crowned Sparrow-Larks.

All these birds were very tame so we managed to get good pictures even though it was still very hot and lots of haze in the air.

Next we drove to the middle of the desert to do some car-searching. We were driving back and forth through a very dry area with pale-yellow plant but couldn’t find what we were searching for. So soon we continued to a big flooded lake where were lots of birds: ducks, waders, a local rarity Great Ringed Plover, Alexandrine Plovers, Little and Temminck’s Stints, 20 Black Storks, some raptors, shrikes, a Pale Martin, shrikes, wheatears, pipits – even some Water Pipits and so on.

From the lake we continued to another desert-area to drive back and forth and this time we were lucky when we found a couple of Cream-colored Coursers, which is really good Indian tick. And from the next similar-looking desert-place we found even better Indian tick – a Greater Hoopoe Lark. Even our local guide was extremely happy when we had seen both of these difficult species. Greater Hoopoe Lark was even a lifer for Sunil.

But after all it was time to say goodbye to Musa’s guides and soon we were driving towards Jaisalmer again. We had an accommodation in Rawan Kot Hotel which was maybe even too luxurious for us. There was even a terrace with a view to the fort. While porters were carrying our luggage to our rooms, we heard a couple of Koels calling.

Driving day

On the 11th of February we slept longer as we had only driving on our program. It was a long way south-west to Mt Abu. On the way there weren’t views or birds really – Dusky Crag Martins were the only bird to mention. In the evening while we were already driving up to Mt Abu, we saw some Oriental Turtle Doves, lots of Bengal Sacred Langurs and a couple of Large Grey Mongooses.

Finally we parked to Ratan Villas Resort and we were very tired because of long driving. Luckily the log was short and after the dinner we were ready to go to sleep.

Mt Abu

On the 12th of February we had one of the most important days of the trip as Mt Abu had several lifers for us – a couple of lifers even for “Gusse” who had been in India many times.

When the sun was rising we were already walking behind Oriya village on the hillside under the top of 1772 meters high Mt Abu. Soon we saw some Oriental Turtle Doves and heard a Brown-headed Barbet calling and after some more walking we found the first couple of White-capped Buntings. Soon we saw a bigger flock of buntings but we never got very close to get better pictures.

We continued walking on the hillside and soon found a Sulphur-bellied Warbler which was moving quickly in the bush so it was also difficult to photograph. And then “Gusse” found a flock of Green Avadavats hiding under a bush right next to the road. These birds were moving inside the bush so again I couldn’t get good pictures and soon they flew away and we kept on walking. But we had already found the most important target-species!

But when I had started to get lifers I wasn’t about to stop yet. Soon we heard a distant Indian Scimitar Babbler calling lower on the hillside forest and then I saw a slaty-grey, orange-billed thrush flying right in front of me to a bush. For some reason nobody else saw it but when we played some Tickell’s Thrush calls, it started to call back – but never came visible again.

While walking I had managed to get some pictures of a Rufous Treepie, Black Redstarts, Indian Black-lored Tits, Plum-headed Parakeets and a Red-whiskered Bulbul and we also found more Green Avadavats and Sulphur-bellied Warblers and managed to get some better pictures of them too. We also saw a Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, a flock of Tawny-bellied Babblers, some Indian White-eyes, Hume’s Leaf Warblers, a couple of Red-breasted Flycatchers, several Northern Palm Squirrels, a Large Grey Mongoose and cute Indian Bush Rat.

We were already walking back to our accommodation when we still found a small flock of Yellow-eyed Babblers. So the morning had been excellent!

After the breakfast we were still walking on the other side of the village trying to find Crested Buntings but we found only a Verditer Flycatcher, a few White-spotted Fantails, Dusky Crag Martins with at least one Eurasian Crag Martin, a couple of Brown Rock Chats and so on.

But as the theme of this trip was sitting in a car, it was soon time to hit the road again and we headed towards southwest.

After hours of driving we crossed the border of Gujarat which was a big step for most of us in our group (except me maybe) as alcohol is forbidden in this state. For locals the law is very strict but also for foreigner it can be a straight ride to the airport and next flight back home with own money if breaking the law.

It was still a long drive until we finally were on the western side of Dasada and parked to our accommodation Rann Riders from where we were going to visit Little Rann of Kutch on the next day.

We still had time to walk a little in the garden and we managed to hear a couple of Coppersmith Barbets, see several Indian Orioles, a couple of Red-breasted Flycatchers and a Purple-rumped Sunbird.

Little Rann of Kutch

On the 13th of February we started early and soon met our local guides and continued with their Jeeps. And soon we were driving along flat and salty Little Rann of Kutch. For some reason our main-goal of the day was to find Asian Houbaras which wasn’t a lifer to any of us and not even an India-tick for Gusse. Luckily this huge area was also home for an endangered Asian Wild Ass.

We were driving around and through many bushy areas trying to find houbaras without luck. There aren’t many of them surviving. After some driving we saw our first Asian Wild Asses which were surprisingly shy and ran away to the desert before we managed to get better pictures. And soon we were driving towards the next bushy area.

After all we spent several hours like this and only better birds we saw were a couple of Booted Eagles and Long-billed Pipits. There was no Asian Houbaras anywhere. But finally we found a bigger pack of Wild Asses and managed to get good picture of them. Then we found also a Short-eared Owl roosting under one bush.

When the day started to get hot we went to one small village where we tried to find roosting Pallid Scops Owls while dogs were barking and locals staring at us. And no owls were found.

When we were already driving back towards our accommodation and still driving though every bushy area on the way for bustards, we got a phone-call that other half of our group had found a White-eyed Buzzard. Unfortunately the connection was so bad that we had no idea where our other car was.

We were driving back and forth before Sathyan got a WhatsApp-message with location from Sunil and we could start driving towards them. And surprisingly we had to drive at least 10 kilometers before we finally saw them. And the buzzard was nowhere to be seen but they told that it should still be perched on a tree behind the next turn. And luckily the bird was still there and we managed to get at least one lifer and even pretty good pictures.

We rested the hottest time of the day and left out a little bit later in the afternoon. And again we headed to the similar places and tried to find houbaras. And still we had no luck but we saw another White-eyed Buzzard and more Wild Asses which we finally saw altogether 89 during the day.

Finally we gave up with the houbaras and started to make stops in different kind of biotopes too. First we saw 8 Cotton Pygmy Geese on a small pool and then Sathyan found a Rufous-tailed Lark next to the road. I managed to get some pictures of the lark before it flew away.

Then we continued to a flooded lake where we saw lots of ducks and waders, for example 250 Pied Avocets, huge flock of 600 Lesser and 50 Greater Flamingoes, 14 Dalmatian Pelicans with one Great White Pelican and so on. We also saw a big Wild Boar.

It was already getting late when we drove back to the desert where we had some local snacks while waiting for the dark. Soon we heard a couple of Indian Nightjars before we left driving to the desert. And only after some minutes of driving we found the bird we were searching for – a Sykes’s Nightjar. We got out from the cars and managed to get pretty good pictures of this pale nightjar.

For once we were staying on the same accommodation for the second night so after the log we got to sleep early.

Driving again

On the 14th of February we were mostly driving again. On the way we crossed an area where were lots of salt-pans and saw lots of egrets and waders but we were in a hurry so we didn’t stop at all. Andreas took some places to his eBird so we could possibly stop on a couple of the best-looking places when we were driving back. Anyway we managed to identify some trip-ticks like Western Reef Herons, Gull-billed Terns, Whiskered Terns and also saw a couple of Great Stone-curlews and so on.

Around Nakhatrana

It was already quite late when we finally arrived at Kunj homestay which situated about 15 kilometers northeast from Nakhatrana. We met the owner and our next couple of days guide, got our rooms and still went walking to the garden area.

There was a dam nearby where we saw Yellow-wattled Lapwings, some egrets, kingfishers and so on. From the trees and bushes we found also a couple of Marshall’s Ioras and Sykes’s Warblers, at least 60 Yellow-throated Sparrows, a Baya Weaver and when it was getting dark some of us managed to see a Pallid Scops Owl in flight.

After the dinner we still went to the dam to wait if Painted Sandgrouses were coming to drink to the river but we didn’t see any. It was nice to sit in warm evening and watch local birds in the sunset while Indian Nightjar was calling on the background.

On the 15th of January we started early and drove about an hour to northwest before we parked in the middle of a bushy area. The sun was just rising but we headed out to walk and search for our target-bird. It took some time until Sunil finally found one Grey Hypocolius which was quite mobile but later either the same or a different bird was showing quite well for all of us. It was another good Indian tick and a couple of us got even a lifer – I had seen them before in several counties.

We stayed in the area for some tie and still saw a couple of flocks of Common Cranes and also a couple of Yellow-eyed Babblers, a Sykes’s Warbler, Rosy Starlings and so on. And when we were driving back towards bigger roads we found a couple of Painted Sandgrouses on the road. We managed to get good pictures of the female but male was all the time hiding and we saw it well only when they flew away.

Next we drove to Bann where we saw thousands of Common Cranes. We tried to find an Indian Eagle-owl from a couple of rocky hill but without success.

We were a little bit disappointed when we continued towards Nakhatrana, but on the northern side of the city in Bharapar we finally found a flock of Indian Coursers. It was already getting warm but I managed to go through some thornbushes close enough to get some better pictures of them. We also saw an Eastern Orphean Warbler on the same bushes.

When we were back at Kunj homestay I decided to try to sleep a little but when I was about to fall asleep Vesa came to wake me up as he had found a Pallid Scops Owl roosting on a tree on the garden. Of course I had to go to see it but when Vesa tried to show us where the owl had been, it wasn’t found. There was already some frustration in the air when I finally noticed that the owl was exactly where it should have been, it was just so well camouflaged that we almost missed it.

At 2 p.m. we left birding again and it was really hot – about 40 degrees of Celsius. But of course it was nothing for locals as in the summer it can be 55 degrees during the hottest time of the day! But for us this was already enough at least when we started to walk around one hill nearby and tried to find Painted Sandgrouses. It was so hot that we didn’t find any birds at all.

Then we continued to Rawalpir Dargah thorn-tree forest where we immediately saw a couple of Grey-necked Buntings. After some searching we finally found a Rufous-fronted Prinia too which had somehow avoided us until this.

Our group spread around the hill and I decided to follow our local guide and we climbed to the top of the hill. But there he was just standing and talking to his phone for a long time. I really didn’t know what we were searching for and it was still very hot. After a long time I had to go to ask, what was our plan and our guide told that in this area there were some White-bellied Minivets coming to roost in the evening. But it was just early afternoon. And there really were no birds – only observations to mention were a Marshall’s Iora and an Indian Hare. So I decided to get our group back together and then we decided to go to try to find an Indian Eagle-Owl from another place.

It was a couple of kilometers walk to Bhukh dam but on the way we saw plenty of birds. Then we sat on the stairs next to the dam for a couple of hours and when it started to get dark we played eagle-owl calls but we got only one possible response. Some Painted Sandgrouses came to drink when it was almost completely dark, but after all we had to give up and walk back to our cars and continue to our accommodation.

On the 16th of February we drove about 20 kilometers southwest from Nakhatrana to Fot Mahadev where we were when the sun was rising. When we got out from our cars our guide immediately heard a distant song of our target-species. We walked closer and soon we all heard a White-naped Tit singing. Our guide played its song and soon the tit flew to closest tree where it kept on singing. This extremely rare bird was lifer for all of us but even more important to Matti who had tried to see this bird 15 years ago without luck.

We photographed this beautiful White-naped Tit for some time until it flew back to the forest. Then we still took some pictures of its nest-maker Yellow-crowned Woodpecker.

Soon we found also a couple of Rufous-fronted Prinias and now we got some kind of pictures of them too. And once we were driving again, we heard another White-naped Tit singing and then on the next stop we heard a Jungle Prinia singing and found the bird perched on a top of a quite distant bush.

After some driving we photographed a White-throated Kingfisher that was perched right next to the road and then continued to a dry field-area where our guide told us that we would try to find Rock Bush Quails. He told that these birds were extremely shy so we should just drive along the road slowly and try to find them next to the road. He also told that there weren’t much chances of finding them this time of year as they were usually seen only during the wet season. But we had driven just a couple of hundreds of meters when “Fräne” saw a flock of small quails right next to the road. I was on the wrong side of the car but soon managed to see at least 12 different sized of birds – adults and youngsters.

In our car, which was now the first car, we all managed to see the quails well but on the second car the backseaters saw them only very briefly. And they hadn’t got the instruction about staying inside the car and when they got out there were no quails to be seen anywhere. I thought I had seen in which bush they had went but when I tried to find them, there was nothing until we saw an adult bird flying to the next field that was behind fences. There was some frustration again so we decided to go further and wait until the other birds come out from the bushes. And finally the young birds were seen running towards the field where an adult was calling them.

In the end of the morning trip we still saw a Long-billed Pipit, some Common Woodshrikes, several flocks of Common Babblers and so on but soon it was again getting too hot to continue.

During the day we took it easy until 4 p.m. as it was far too hot to do anything before that. We tried again to find Painted Sandgrouses on the same place without luck but I managed to get pictures of Great Grey Shrikes and a Rufous-fronted Prinia.

Then we continued to Rawalpir Dargah again and we were still driving towards the hill when Sathyan saw a White-bellied Minivet in front of our car. I couldn’t see it from the backseat but as I was the only one missing this species, we soon hurried after it with Sathyan and luckily found it from the next bushes. This female bird was quite elusive but we all managed to see it pretty well.

As we really didn’t know what to do next, we decided to drive back to Kunj and just do relaxed birding in the garden and in the evening we went to the dam to play eagle-owl calls and wait for a response. No eagle-owls were heard but a Spotted Owl came to see us.

On the 17th of February we had still got a morning trip on our ordinary schedule but we had again so much driving during the day that we just slept a little bit longer and then after breakfast it was time to say thanks to Kunj staff and start a long drive towards Ahmadabad.

After about 30 minutes of driving there was a pool next to the road which was full of egrets, Painted Storks and Eurasian Spoonbills. There was also a Golden Jackal behind the pool which we managed to photograph.

Once we were driving again we soon saw a bigger pale bird flying across the road – a Sirkeer Malkoha! Luckily the bird landed to the bushes next to the road and by reversing slowly we all managed to see it. And surprisingly it stayed on the bush so that we managed to get some pictures of it too. We finally had luck with this species which is only found with luck.

To Ahmadabad

Then there was really nothing until we made the stop on the first place that Andreas had marked to eBird on the way to west. We had seen lots of ducks on a small lake in Kodta where we now stopped to find out that there were lots of Tufted Ducks but also some Common Pochards, 3 Great Crested Grebes and a Clamorous Reed Warbler was singing.

And after another long stint we were again in the middle of the saltpans where we stopped to check waders. There were about a hundred Tibetan Sand Plovers, some Slender-billed and Brown-headed Gulls and even a distant Black-necked Stork.

Our last stop was made in Halvad where in Lake Samantsar we saw lots of ducks, egrets and terns and so on but nothing new. And then we still had a long drive to Ahmadabad where we took smaller roads probably to avoid traffic-jams in the city.

It was already getting dark when we finally arrived at Hotel Fern Metropole where we saw several big flocks of Rosy Starlings flying to roost. The log was short and then we had the best dinner of the trip.

Last morning around Nalsarovar

The 18th of February. The ordinary plan had probably been that we wouldn’t do any birding on our last day, but as we had our flight back to Delhi late in the evening, we still had plenty of time. Unfortunately Sathyan had his flight a few hours earlier so we didn’t have whole day. It might have been wise to have accommodation anywhere west from Ahmadabad and at least not in the middle of the huge city as we went birding quite far southwest to Nalsarovar.

We left at 5 a.m. and after a couple of hours driving we picked up our local guide and continued towards our first destination which was north from Nalsarovar.

We started in the middle of semi-desert where we immediately saw crazy numbers of birds migrating. There were flocks of both Common and Demoiselle Cranes but Short-toed Lark-looking birds were everywhere. At least some of them seemed to be Mongolian Short-toed Larks and also Rosy Starlings were numerous. And after some searching and waiting we found what we were looking for – a Namaqua Dove couple. It was a lifer for our guides and really good Indian tick for us.

Our schedule was tight so we soon continued towards east to a bushy area where we found a flock of Red-headed Buntings with at least one Black-headed Bunting. There would have been also a wintering Yellow-breasted Bunting somewhere in the area but unfortunately we hadn’t got time to try to see it.

Next we continued again towards east to the middle of big fields and when we parked our car, there was a big flock of about 200 Black-breasted Weavers on the closest bushes. It was good to get this lifer too – everyone else in our group had seen it on their previous trip.

We walked to the middle of the field and it started to get sweaty. A couple of Common Quails were calling and Sand Martins were flying around us. Finally we thought that we had been walking enough and asked until where we were about to walk. Luckily it was only a short walk to muddier fields where we were supposed to try to find Sociable Plovers. We all had seen this species even in Finland so we could’ve done something else too especially when our guide said that usually the lapwings were seen only early in the morning. But luckily we found 5 Sociable Lapwings from the field so we hadn’t been walking and spending time for almost nothing. Actually I was happier when a couple of flocks of Sarus Cranes flew very nicely over us and I managed to get good pictures of them.

After all that was all our birding. Luckily we could drop our guide to the closest village as we were quite far east from Nalsarovar already. And soon we were driving back towards Ahmedabad.

Towards home

We managed to get back to Ahmedabad ring-road surprisingly easily and then we still went to eat to a restaurant close to the airport. Then it was time to say goodbye to Sunil who was going back to home by train. Then we drove to the airport where it was time to say thanks to our amazing driver. He still had a very long drive back to Delhi!

At the airport we managed to get through complicated formalities and then it was time to say goodbye to Sathyan who was flying back to Kerala. And then we had really long wait until our IndiGo flight finally left to Delhi at 7:30 p.m.

The flight took about an hour and a half and in Delhi we had quite an adventure to another terminal by bus and of course lots of queuing. Finally our Lufthansa flight left on the 19th of February at 2 a.m.

I managed to sleep most of the flight and finally we landed to Münich, Germany at 6:25 local time. Again there were tight security-checks but finally when we got to our gate it started to feel like we were going back to home. But of course our flight was once again late and left only at 9 a.m.

Because of the flight was late I was very nervous as I needed to get to my train. I should have had an hour and 20 minutes to get to Joensuu-train but now it really seemed that I couldn’t make it or at least my luggage couldn’t make it.

The plane landed to Helsinki-Vantaa about a half an hour late at 12:30 p.m. but for once the gate wasn’t the furthest and I managed to get pretty soon to wait for my luggage. I already went to say goodbye to our group and then kept on waiting impatiently. Amazingly my luggage came surprisingly soon and I could start hurrying towards the railway-station.

Luckily it’s not long walk so I got even to an earlier train so I had plenty of time to change to another train in Tikkurila. The last leg of the trip went surprisingly quickly and I was finally in Parikkala at 4:30 p.m. Hanna came to pick me up from the railway-station. It was nice to be back at home.

J.A.

India, Goa 6th to 22nd of December 2005

India Goa 6.-22.12. 2005

To India!

On the 6th of December, on the Independent day of Finland, at 7 a.m. my dad drove us to Helsinki-Vantaa airport. After some waiting our plane left towards Frankfurt.
11.05 a.m. we landed to Frankfurt, where we waited for a couple of hours before we continued towards Mumbai with huge Boeing 747 400 -plane.

The flight was extremely boring! We were sitting in the middle places of all ten seats and the movies were horrible. I haven’t seen many worse movies than Charlie and a chocolade factory or that Bollywoods love-comedy that were played.

On the 7th day at 2 p.m. we landed to Mumbai airfield. After many long queues and waiting for our luggage we found out that there was a free bus to local flights terminal.

After a short Mumbai sightseeing the second terminal was our Air India terminal. And after a couple of hours waiting our flight to Goa left at 5.20 a.m.
First problems

Right away when we had landed to Mumbai I got a textmessage from our old catalan friend Oriol Clarabuch where he told he and his girlfriend Maria had problems with their flights. Because of fog they hadn’t been able to land to Milano from where they had their flight to Mumbai. They had landed to some other airport and they were badly late from Milano. It was already clear they would miss their flight and the next one would be after 24 hours.

It was bad news, we had planned to meet in Mumbai. But the worst thing was that Oriol had also our flight tickets to Goa. And now even Oriol sent all the important information from the tickets, Indian Airlines workers weren’t letting us to their flight – just because we had no print of the email ticket! And of course Indian Airlines had no internet and the internet bar was opening too late. Luckily we realized to go to ask help from Kingfisher airlines! They had internet and a printer so we were able to print the tickets by using the information that Oriol had sent. So we managed to get our flight to Goa and officers of Indian Airlines weren’t happy.

Finally in Goa!

At 7 a.m we landed to Dabolim airport. After we had found the luggages we took a taxi that was waiting for us. We started our way to Baga and our hotel Riverside.
It was directly clear we would have a good time in Goa – there were so many birds everywhere! Even though our driver was driving like a lunatic (more on the right than on the left line), we managed to identify many tripticks even though many birds weren’t identified. House Crows, Rock Doves, House Sparrows, Cattle Egrets, White-breasted Kingfishers, Brahminy Kites, Black Kites, Little Egrets, an Oriental Magpie Robin, a Large-billed Crow, an Asian Koel, Swallows, Stork-billed Kingfishers, Little Cormorants, Red-whiskered Bulbuls, Indian Swiftlets, a Purple Heron, Red-wattled Lapwings and Indian Pond Herons were seen. It was really good we had studied the local birds beforehand.

After one hours rallydriving we finally parked to Riverside hotel. We took our room and rested a little but soon we had to go for a walk to see some birds to the Baga fields.

Lifers everywhere

We had hardly started walking on the field when a small bird jumped to the air just underneath my feet. The first really good triptick has been found, a Barred Buttonquail! It was extremely hot and we were absolutely tired because of travelling but anyway we managed to find Black Drongos, Hoopoes, an Indian Roller, more White-breasted Kingfishers, House Crows, House Sparrows, Little Green Bee-eaters, Rosy-ringed Parakeets, Plum-headed Parakeets, Little Swifts, Spotted Doves, Common Sandpipers, Little Ringed Plovers, Red-wattled Lapwings, lots of Brahminy and Black Kites, a Booted Eagle, Cattle Egrets, Long-tailed Shrikes, Golden Orioles, Oriental Magpie Robins, Stonechats, Common and Jungle Mynah, Eastern Red-rumped Swallows, Purple-rumped Sunbirds, a Crimson-backed Sunbird, a Malabar Lark, Richard’s and Paddyfield Pipits, a Tree Pipit, a White-cheeced Barbet and a Plain and a Grey-breasted Prinia. Soon the heat was too much and it was difficult to walk because we were so tired. We had to walk back to the hotel to rest even though we had walked only some hundreds of meters!

To Anjuna fleemarket

So we slept for 4 hours before we decided to start walking to weekly (only on wednesdays) fleemarket to Anjuna. We walked some 4 kilometers following the coastline which was the easiest way to find the Anjuna beach where the fleemarket was. The rocky coastline was beautiful. Bushes held some Greenish Warblers but also a White-throated Fantail was found. A Western Reef Heron, 2 Turnstones, a Grey Plover and a flock of Lesser Sand Plovers were also seen on the shore. Blue Rock Thrushes were flying from the rock to rock as were 2 White-browed Wagtails too, Wire-tailed Swallows were circling up on the sky.

The fleemarket was huge! Luckily we were there in the evening, so there were not so many people all the sellers were already tired. Of course it was a pity it came dark before we had managed to see a half of the market. Anyway Hanna managed to buy several souvenirs and I managed to see a Brown Fish Owl flying from a palmtree to another. When it was too dark we took a taxi to Calangute (it took 40 minutes to drive that 3 kilometers because of the traffic) where we bought something to eat and then walked another 3 kilometers to Riverside.

Learning the forestbirds

On the 8th of December we woke up a little bit too early, but when the sun started to rise at 6.45 we were walking on the other side of the river towards the Baga hill. The first observations were made on the river where we saw a Common Kingfisher, a Greater Flameback, an Asian Coucal, Spotted Doves, a Grey Heron and Plum-headed Parakeets. Baga hills forests were full of strange birdcalls and we hadn’t yet idea what they all were. It was really difficult to find the birds from the dense trees but Ashy Drongos, 2 Asian Brown Flycatchers, Common Tailorbirds, Blyth’s Reed Warblers, Green and Greenish Warblers, a Large-billed Leaf Warbler, White-rumped Munias and a flock of Puff-throated Babblers with 1 Tawny-bellied Babler and 1 Brown-cheeced Fulvetta were identified. Also one red Asian Paradise Flycatcher was seen flying.

Oriol and Maria arrived at 8 a.m. and we finally met on the Riverside. They were of course even more tired than we had been the day earlier because of the 24 hours too long journey, so they decided to go to sleep. We walked back to Baga hill.

A couple of hours trip was really good even though the birds were even more difficult to find than in early morning. New tripticks were Black-rumped Flameback, Coppersmith Barbet, White-bellied Drongo, Shikra, White-bellied Sea Eagle, Grasshopper Warbler, Red Spurfowl, Spotted Owlet, Indian Swiftlet and Asian Palm Swift.
At 2.30 p.m. we woke up still tired catalans and walked to have a late breakfast at Lila’s Café. At 4 o’clock we started to walk to the legendary Beira Mar hotel. On the way we saw some Striated Herons, a White-breasted Waterhen, Common and Jungle Mynahs, Rosy Starlings with a beautiful Brahminy Starling, a couple of Fan-tailed Warblers and a Malabar Lark.

Legendary Beira Mar

When we reached Beira Mar we walked straight to the restaurant from where we knew opened a good view to Baga fields. There were already a couple of birders who told that the area wasn’t as good now as it has been in the past. There weren’t much water for the crakes and snipes. Anyway there were a lot for us: a Black-capped Kingfisher, some common waders, a Coot, a Purple Heron, Marsh Harriers, Intermediate Egrets, Chestnut-tailed Starlings, White-rumped, Scaly-breasted and Black-headed Munias, Indian Silverbills, Plain Flowerpecker and later in the dusk a Spotted Owlet, a Ruddy-brested Crake, 50 Small Preticoles and some Night Herons. And all these were seen while chatting and drinking lemonade or Kingfisher beer!

Taxibirding

On the next morning we woke up 6 a.m. and the taxi came to pick us up 6.30. We drove to Arpora where behind the Club Cabana opened really good Arpora hills forests. The place was absolutely good and there were already other birders even one Finnish, Pasi Laaksonen. I had never been that confused with birds in my life. There were lots of birds in the bushes and trees, too many different birdcalls and many colourful birds were flying around. But we were doing quite well, some of the identifications were made with the help of other birders: a Black Eagle, an Oriental Honey Buzzard, Common Ioras, Black-hooded Oriols, Alpine Swifts, Golden-fronted Leafbirds, a Blue-winged Leafbird, Small Minivets, a Scarlet Minivet, Orange-headed Thrushes, Tickel’s Blue Flycatchers, a Rufous Treepie, a Black-headed Cuckoo-shrike, Bronzed Drongos, a Little Spiderhunter, a Black-lored Tit, a Yellow-crowned Woodpecker, Red-whiskered, Grey-headed, Red-vented, and White-browed Bulbuls, Grey-breasted Prinias, Thick-billed, Plain and Pale-billed Flowerpeckers, Purple-rumped, Purple, Loten’s, Crimson-backed and even a Crimson Sunbird. One of the funniest observations was sitting on the top of one big three – a big black-faced monkey, a Hanuman Langur.

When it started to be hot we walked to Marinha Dourada pools where we found some common waders but also a Pacific Golden Plover, Marsh Sandpipers, 50 Small Pratincoles, Little Cormorants, a Striated Heron, a couple of Pied Stonechats, a White-browed Wagtail and a couple of Oriental Honey Buzzards.

After having breakfast we had a short siesta before we took a taxi again. First we drove to an old Portuguese fortres to Chapora, where we climped up to the fortres to watch views to the Morjim Beach. On the Morjim there was one place full of gulls and waders so that was the place where we were going next. We saw also some other birds: a White-bellied Sea Eagle, an Osprey, Curlews and lots of Black and Brahminy Kites.

So we continued to Morjim by taxi. There was now a new bridge over the river so it took only some 20 minutes to reach the beach. Even though the timing and tide were both bad for visiting Morjim we saw lots of Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers, Kentish Plovers, 2 Bar-tailed Godwits, Oystercatchers, Small Pratincoles, Brown-headed, Slender-billed, Black-headed, Heuglin’s, Caspian and Barbary Gulls, one Great Black-headed Gull and some Gull-billed and Lesser Crested Terns, a Caspian Tern and lots of funny crabs and nice sunset.

At the evening once we were back in the Riverside we had lounch and enjoyed the warm evening until 11 p.m when we went to sleep.

Baga, hills and fields

On the 10th of December we started again 6.30 a.m. and walked to the Baga hill. Now we climbed up by using the eastern path. In the beginning it was very quiet but soon many different birds started to call on the top of the trees. Many calls were already familiar, we had been listening Hannus Jännes CD in the evenings. Common Ioras, Coppersmith and White-cheeced Barbets and bulbuls were singing, Greenish Warblers and Blyth’s Reed Warblers were calling. But it was much better when we reached the top of Baga hill – Jungle Babblers, a Blue-faced Malkoha, Indian Robin and finally a couple of Indian Peafowls were found. Other nice birds included Black-headed Cuckooshrikes, many bulbuls, Orange-headed Thrushes, a Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, Black-hooded Orioles and a Black-lored Tit. A family of monleys were also nice to see very close.

During the day we had a short walk on the Baga fields. Maria was having a bad flu but she came with us more crazy birders. The best observation was made right in the beginning when a Small Buttonquail was seen twice. It really left under the feet! The pipits included now also Blyth’s Pipits and other nice birds were Ashy Prinias, Asian Coucals, Asian Coels, Indian Rollers, Siberian Stonechats, a Booted Eagle and lot more.

At 4 p.m. we went to Beira Mar again and it was really good! A Lesser Whistling Duck, a Black-capped Kingfisher, a Stork-billed Kingfisher, Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, a Shikra, a Rufous Treepie, an Asian Brown Flycatcher, 2 Black-lored Tits, Chestnut-tailed Starlings and lots of munias. When the sun set the White-breasted Waterhens started to keep strange voices, a Ruddy-breasted Crake was seen breafly and we were lucky to twitch a Painted Snipe female that a Welsh birder Tim found behind the neighbouring hotel.

To Backwoods!

On the 11th of december we woke up 4.50 a.m. and the bus to Backwoods camp to a jungle came 5.15. Tim and his partner were picked up at Beira Mar and another couple of British birders at Marinha Dourada. After that we started a long drive to Backwoods.

I think everybody were sleeping in the beginning of the drive, but when the sun started to rise and the landscape changed more forested atleast I was unable to sleep. I was hardly woken when I saw 2 enormous birds flying quite close to the bus – Great Hornbills! Unfortunately only some of us managed to see these birds.

Soon we stopped and met Leio who was our guide for next 3 days. After a short drive we stopped again and that bridge was our first birding place. Crows were now Large-billed Crows, soon we found some Spangled Drongos, Asian Fairy Bluebirds, an Indian Cuckooshrike, a Changeable Hawk Eagle, Black-crested Bulbuls and one Kestrel were seen too.

Next stop was made to a dry rocky meadow that was surrounded by nice forests. Chestnut-shouldered Petronias were calling, we saw a Common Woodshrike, Black-headed Cuckooshrikes, Greater Racket-tailed Drongos, a Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, a Common Rosefinch, an Indian Peafowl, Scarlet Minivets, Brown-headed and Crimson-fronted Barbets, Pompadour Green Pigeons, Grey-headed, Yellow-browed and Black Bulbuls, an Asian Paradise Flycatcher and the first crazy looking Malabar Grey Hornbill.

Soon we continued to the camp to have a breakfast at 9.50 a.m. The breakfast was great, some spicy potatos and crisps with mango and pineapplejam – good!

Walking in the jungle

After the breakfast the birding really started! First we drove a little and saw an Indian Peafowl and a Chestnut-headed Bee-eater from the bus. Then we had a long walk following a dry riverbank. A Crimson-fronted Barbet was seen right away but then it was very quiet. Of course there were different calls everywhere but we were walking pretty fast following Leio who had clearly something better on his mind. Soon Leio started to whistle a short tune and after a couple of minutes we heard an answer – a Malabar Trogon! This really amazing bird was also seen briefly and soon there were atleast 3 of them calling for us. It was really hot and we really walked a lot before we headed to a dry river again. But there Leio was upset because there were people. This was the place to find a Blue-eared Kingfisher but now there were locals fishing, with explosives! So the Kingfisher was somewhere as far as possible.

So we continued even further following the river and now we were lucky – we found an Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher which was hiding extremely well inside a vegetation. But we saw it – that was enough for us.

When the jewel of the Kingfishers was found we could concentrade to more common birds too. Malabar Whistling Thrushes, Orange-headed Thrushes, White-bellied Blue Flycatchers, Western Crowned Warblers, a Forest Wagtail, a Red Spurfowl and Yellow-browed and Black-crested Bulbuls were all seen. After a hot walk at the camp we ate delicious vegetarian food.

After the lounch we had a couple of hours free, but we all walked to the closest river to do birdwatching. White-naped Woodpecker female was something rare, but we were happy to see also a Striated Heron, Brown-cheeced Fulvettas and lots of different bulbuls.

More birding

After tea and coffee we gathered at the parking place from where we had a short walk to twitch one of the strangest bird in the whole World – a Sri Lanka Frogmouth. After some searching we found only one bird sitting inside a bamboobushes. Another of the couple had been disturbed from its sleeping place. So we walked away as quietly as possible away even without taking any pictures. We continued by bus to Tambdi Surla temple and there we walked to a dry river which was behind the much smaller temple than we had thought. Next three hours we walked and tried to find the Blue-eared Kingfisher. Crimson-fronted Barbets were calling, a Stork-billed Kingfisher, Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters and Brown-breasted Flycatchers were sitting on the branches that bend over the river and Vernal Hanging Parrots were calling when flying over us. When we again reached the Kingfisher place we were again disappointed – there were now people cutting trees! So we kept on going and soon Oriol and Maria found a beautiful rarity, a Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher! This greenish yellow and grey headed bird was absolutely beautiful and a big surprice for Leio too. Other birds were already familiar: Tickell’s Blue Flycatchers, Orange-headed and Malabar Whistling Thrushes, bulbuls, Dark-fronted and Puff-throated Babblers, Brown-cheeced Fulvettas and Black-naped Monarchs. Only other ticks were a Large Woodshire which was singing shortly and a Grey Wagtail.

When we had walked back to the temple we scanned shortly to the sky above the hills because of many birds used to fly there in the evening, but nothing interesting was seen.

At 7.15 p.m. we had lunch (vegetable soup) and after listening a Brown Hawk Owl calling we continued to the evening trip to see nightjars. On the drive we saw some Indian Hares and when we reached the open area where the nightjars used to be we found the first one immediately. Leio and some boys had a big torches and they used them very well so we could get really close to the first nightjar which was a Grey Nightjar. All together we saw 2 Grey Nightjars and 2 Jerdon’s Nightjars. When we were walking back to the bus we accidently walked very close to a flock of Gaurs (Indian Bisons) that were resting on the open area. We also heard a couple of calls of a Brown Fish Owl. Then the long but really good day was over and soon we went to sleep to our small cottage called Malabar Trogon.

Breakfast Pitta

On the 12th of December we had breakfast behind the kitchen because that was the place to see an Indian Pitta in very early morning. At 6.30 we were all sitting silent and waiting the bird to come. First some Orange-headed and Malabar Whistling Thrushes and Blacbirds came but soon the pitta came visible too. It was funny to have tea while the pitta was jumping in 4 meters.

To a birdwalk again

At 7 a.m. we saw some Black-throated Munias from the bus while we were driving to do birdwatching behind a local school. We had a short walk but found only one birdflock but it was a good one: Asian Paradise Flycatchers, a Heart-spotted Woodpeckers, Black-naped Monarchs, bulbuls and Jungle and Dark-fronted Babblers. A couple of flying Malabar Parakeets were also seen shortly. When we were back in the bus Maria noticed a cute Red-breasted Flycatcher just 2 meters from the bus sitting on a fence. A little bit later we found a Red-headed Bunting sitting on an electic wire.

Our second walk was made near the camp. We walked first to the fields where we saw a Brown Shrike and then from the river to different kind of forests than before. We saw babblers and bulbuls, a Scarlet Minivet, Brown-backed Needletails, a couple of Heart-spotted Woodpeckers and then a real rarity a Dark-sided Flycatcher. It was also good to see a local tractor, an elephant, that was having a real good shower – two men were really doing their best to make the elephant shiny!

An hour free was spent again on the river. Hanna decided to try to do some photographing so I was the first one to get there. After some 10 minutes I saw 2 Malabar Pied Hornbills flying across the river to the other side and that was it, we never saw them again. Later we saw an Oriental Honey Buzzard, White-rumped Needletails, an Ashy Woodswallow and a House Martin. Meanwhile Hanna had found a good flock of birds where were many common ones (thrushes, drongos, babblers and bulbuls) but also Tickell’s Blue Flycatchers, Asian Paradice Flycatchers, Black-naped Monarchs, Asian Fairy Bluebirds, a Large Woodshrike, a Rufous Treepie and a White-rumped Shama. There were also two different kind of monkeys Bonnet Macaques and Hanuman Langurs and a couple of huge Red Giant Squirrels (about 1 meter long) in the camp area so there were lots to see and photograph.

At last!

After the dinner we drove again to the river behind the temple to try the Blue-eared Kingfisher. We had walked only some meters when Leio shouted loudly! Everybody knew now there was something good, and there was – an Indian Blue Robin! This absolutely fabulous bird was hiding well underneath the bushes but we all managed to see it quite well. It was the most beautiful passerine I had ever seen!

Now we walked harder walk than ever: Malabar Trogons were heard and seen again but all Kingfishers were the common ones (Common, White-breasted and Stork-billed). Anyway we walked also backwards following the riverbank not the path even though Leio gently asked us to use it. When we were almost back on the bridge I found a dark Kingfisher hiding in the shadows underneath some roots that were growing over the dry river. But only Leio managed to see this Blue-eared Kingfisher before it flew to the bushes. We waited for it some minutes but then we decided to walk to the bridge to have a look if it had flewn there, and there it was! This beautiful kingfisher was really far from its normal places!

We scanned the hills from the temple again and now we saw a Crested Treeswift and also a Fork-tailed Swift amongst other swifts.

When we were walking the last hundreds of meters to the camp we heard an Indian Pitta calling and a little bit later when we were having a dinner (really good curry chicken), we heard 3 Oriental Scops Owls calling.

Goodbye Backwoods

On the 13th of December after the morning tea we walked to the closest river to check to check if the hornbills would have been there. There were some indeed but only Malabar Grey Hornbills. Then we had a couple of short walks in the forests where weren’t too many birds: a Black Eagle, Asian Paradice Flycatchers and so on. From the bridge behind the temple we saw now two Blue-eared Kingfishers which had some problems with Common Kingfishers. They were now so easy! On the way back to have a breakfast we saw a Black-headed Bunting.

After having breakfast we drove to do raptorwatching. On the way we saw a flying White-rumped Shama and once we had reached the place we found a flock of Common Rosefinches, Plum-headed Parakeets and a couple of Black-headed Buntings. A couple of Besras were soaring on the sky shortly, 3 Oriental Honey Buzzards were flying high over us and then we still saw a Hobby and a Crested Goshawk but that was it. Even though we tried still a couple of hours no more raptors were seen. The weather was misty and windy so it wasn’t the best day for raptorwatching.

When we were back at the parking place of the camp we found a couple of singing Black-hooded Orioles. Sri Lanka Frogmouths weren’t found anymore – a pity we never got the pictures. Then we had to pack all the luggages before the lunch, but of course we had some time to spend on the river too. But only better bird was an Ashy Woodswallow. At 1.45 p.m we sat on the bus which was driving us back to Baga. 3 days in Backwoods jungle had been absolutely great!

On the way we saw plenty of egrets on the rivers, a couple of Spotted Eagles flying and a Peregrine sitting on a big bridge.

We parked to our new hotel, Ronil Royal, 4 p.m. and after an hour we were ready to go to Beira Mar again. We had now less than 100 meters to Beira and it was really good we went there: a Paddyfield Warbler was just the beginning, because we saw also a Watercock and an Isabelline Shrike! And it was good to see Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, Rosy Starlings, Pied Stonechats and so on again.

Short trip to Baga fields and to Anjuna again

On the 14th of December we had some kind of lazy day. Anyway we woke up early with Oriol and walked to Baga fields. It was absolutely beautiful light for photographing but I forgot my camera to hotel. We had also promised to be back in hotel before 9 a.m so we hadn’t too much time. So we just tried to find a good path through the fields. And we managed to find a path but in some places it was wet.

From the flocks of Swallows and Eastern Red-rumped Swallows we found some Streak-throated Swallows, a Sand and a Plain Martin. Malabar Larks and pipits were common, a couple of Yellow Wagtail were flying, a Clamorous Reed Warbler and some Pintailed Snipes were something we had been expecting.

Finally we had to walk through the whole fields until we were in Riverside, that was the only place to cross the river. Then we took a taxi to Ronil where girls were already waiting for us.

Then we took a taxi to Anjuna, but of course we stopped in Marinha Dourada pools on the way. Only Pacific Golden Plovers, Small Praticoles and a White-browed Wagtail were interesting so we continued soon to Anjuna fleemarket. We did shopping for several extremely hot hours!

Finally at 2.30 p.m we were back in our hotel. Then we just relaxed a couple of hours before we had a short visit to Beira where nothing new was found. We ate at the hotels own restaurant which was pretty good and at 9 p.m. we were ready to go to sleep.

To Carambolim!

On the 15th of Decmenber the taxi driver which we had contacted by text messages, Abhi Naik, came 6 a.m to pick us up and we started our way towards Carambolim Lake. First we drove to the pools that were on the eastern side of the lake. And Abhi really knew that was a good place to start: a Ruddy Shelduck, Terek Sandpipers, Indian Cormorants, Black-headed Ibises, Dunlins, Curlew Sanpipers, Little Stints, a Grey Plover, Lesser Sand Plovers, a Greater Spotted Eagle, Yellow Wagtails, Plain Prinias, Streak-throated Swallows, a Plain Martin, Gull-billed Terns and a Banded Bay Cuckoo that wasn’t identified before we asked Abhi to help us, he knew the bird directly as he knew all other birds too.

From the pools we drove to a small village where Abhi found easily the birds we were searching for – two Brown Hawk Owls were sleeping in a palmtree. We also tried to find Jungle Owlets but they weren’t found.

Next we drove to a meadow that was little bit too overgrown so the larks and pipits weren’t easy to find. Only Malabar Larks and Paddyfield Pipits were found, so we had no luck with Rufous-tailed Lark. Anyway we were happy to see 5 Asian Openbills that were flying over us.

Then we continued to the Carambolim Lake which was easy to see it was a perfect birding place! It was very overgrown but there were some open places which were absolutely full of Lesser Whistling Ducks, some Cotton Pygmy Geese, Garganeys, Bronze-winged and Pheasant-tailed Jacanas and Grey-headed Swamphens. Lots of egrets were walking on the shores, in the bushes there were a huge flock of Baya Weavers, a couple of Ashy Prinias, in a closest palmtree there was a Rufous Woodpecker eating some insects from their nest and over the lake there were 3 Asian Dartes flying! When we checked the lake more carefully we found still some Moorhens and when we were walking back to our small bus Abhi realized there was a Jungle Owlet calling. And soon Abhi also found another Jungle Owlet from the palmforest, the caller had moved further.

On the southern side of the lake there were pools that were absolutely full of egrets, but there were also lots of waders, all the common ones but also some tripticks, Temminck’s Stints, Spotted Redshanks, Black-winged Stilts and Ruffs. An Indian Spotted Eagle was soaring above us and an Osprey fished an Argus Fish (a fish that looks like a football) infront of us.

On the way to the next lake, Mershim, we saw a really important triptick when Abhi found a flying Lesser Adjutant from the sky. The only good place to see this species has been Giba Geigy factory area which was now not worth to go because the pools aren’t visibly anymore. Mershim wasn’t that good, there were just 2 Pied Kingfishers and then some ducks and jacanas to photograph.

At midday we drove to Saligao spring, where Abhi showed us a Brown Wood Owl that was sleeping inside a big dense tree. We had never found the bird without Abhi!
At 12.30 p.m. we were back in Baga and in our hotel. After the breakfast we relaxed until 5 p.m. when the rest of us went to do shopping to the streets. I had to stay in the hotel because I had some stomach problems.

To Velim

On the next morning Abhi came at 6 a.m. and this time we headed to south. First we drove to Batem Lake where we were a little bit before the sun started to rise. The lake was full of ducks and there were not only Lesser Whistling Ducks and Cotton Pygmy Geese and jacanas but also Teals, Garganeys, Pintails, Shovelers, a Mallard, a Gadwall, a couple of Little Grebes and a Ferruginous Duck. With Common Kingfishers there were White-brested, Stork-billed and Pied Kingfishers.

We continued more south until Lake Velim, where we did raptorwatching for several hot hours. When we arrived there were only one Great Spotted Eagle sitting in a tree and some Black Kites in the palms. But otherwise there were nice birds for us. The badly overgrown lake held lots of egrets, mynahs were on the fields with cows and a Wild Boar, with Swallows and Eastern Red-rumped Swallows we saw again a Plain Martin, a couple of Alexandrine Parakeets flew over us and a Pied Cuckoo landed to a bush next to us.

When the day was warming up there were more and more raptors on the sky – a couple of Besras, a Kestrel and soon also bigger birds. First there were hundreds of Black Kites but soon also some Indian Spotted Eagles and a Booted Eagle, 3 Asian Woolly-necked Storks, an Oriental Honey Buzzard, a Crested Goshawk, a White-bellied Sea Eagle and when it was really hot also Greater Spotted Eagles. When it started to get too hot we found the first Crested Serpent Eagle which started to call loudly and soon there were 3 of them calling and soaring on the sky. But none vultures were seen! They are probably instinct from whole Goa?

Tired birding but good species

On the way back north we stopped at Santa Cruz pools even though it was extremely hot. There were good numbers of Little and Temminck’s Stints but no Long-toed Stint that a couple of Belgians had seen earlier. Pacific Golden Plovers were nice to study and with Yellow Wagtails there was a female Citrine Wagtail, an Oriental Honey Buzzard was seen again. But the birding ended sadly when Oriols telesope falled to the ground and went broken.

After an hour siesta we walked to Beira with Hanna. Pasi Laaksonen who had also stayed in Ronil was also there but there was also our old friend William Velmala!
So next couple of hours it was nice to chat with good friends in Finnish. But we saw also some birds: a couple of Black-rumped Flamebacks, a Stork-billed and again the same Black-capped Kingfisher, Chestnut-tailed and Rosy Starlings, Plum-headed and Rosy-ringed Parakeets, munias, a Baillion’s Crake which only I saw and when it was almost dark we saw 2 Cinnamon Bitterns!

Boat trip to Zuari River

On the 17th of December we woke up 6.25 a.m. and the Backwoods bus picked us up 6.50 a.m. Soon there were our old Backwoods group in the bus and we were on the way to boat trip to Zuari River. We drove directly to Panaji harbour, where we had a riverboat waiting for us.

The morning was cold and we drove quite fast a long time befere we started to see birds. First there were just Brown-headed and Slender-billed Gulls and Gull-billed Terns but soon also Lesser Crested and Crested Terns and also 1 Sandwich Tern. Under the big bridge there were some Western Reef Herons that flight away when we went under it.

The Crested and Lesser Crested Terns were easy to photograph from the boat, but we were lucky to get close to a White-bellied Sea Eagle too. It was sitting on a pole and we managed to get really close!

After one and half hour boating we had seen some Common, White-breasted, Stork-billed and Black-capped Kingfishers but now we a turned to a small sideriver and from the mangrove we tried to find Collared Kingfishers.

Clamorous Reed Warblers and Greenish Warblers were calling in the bushes, a Spoonbill flew over us, but finally one of the boat drivers found a pair of Collared Kingfishers that were hiding in a mangrove. The drivers were really good and we managed to get quite close to the birds so Hanna could make some pictures of this 8th kingfisher species for our trip.

Later we took another small sideriver where we found one more Collared Kingfisher but unfortunately we couldn’t find any crocodiles. An Osprey let us get really close so Hanna could get good pictures of it. Then we drove back only to the halfway where the bus was waiting for us and we continued to the Batem Lake by bus. This time it was very bad light and there weren’t so many ducks than a day before. Pied Kingfishers were the 6th kingfisher species for the day.
At midday we were back in our hotel and after the breakfast we just relaxed a couple of hours. Then we went to the Baga fields with Hanna. Oriol and Maria had to get some medicines because they had got some problems with their malariapills. We had a short but very good walk: a Common Buzzard, a Painted Snipe male with a chick, a Collared Dove and a couple of Blyth’s Pipits were found.

To Bondla!

On the 18th of December we woke up to a knockig to our door. The hotel guard was standing there a and saing: “Your bus is here!”. And it was only 5 a.m. Then we realized Abhi had became too early. We had thought he would come 5.30 a.m. So we had to be very quick and 5.12 we were all in Abhis bus and ready to go to Bondla.
At 6.40 we arrived at Bondla, where we had first a short walk to a temple. It was really cold – maybe 18 degrees but we were absolutely freezing! Anyway there were lots of birds: Grey Junglefowls were calling, a couple of Changeable Hawk Eagles, Serpent Crested Eagles and Spangled Drongos were sitting on the top of the trees. An Oriental Honey Buzzard was flying on the top of the hill, a Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, a Heart-spotted Woodpecker and a Black-rumped Flameback were climbing in the trees, Dark-fronted Babblers, Asian Paradise Flycatchers, bulbuls, a Rufous Treepie, Common Woodshrikes and some Malabar Grey Hornbills were on the bushes and trees.

We drove higher to the hill where Abhi dropped us to walk some kilometers to the best looking forest. And the forest was really good! More lunaticly laughing Malabar Grey Hornbills, Tickell’s and White-bellied Blue Flycatchers, Black-naped Monarchs, many Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrikes, Western Crowned Warblers, I saw a Hume’s Leaf Warbler and with Hanna we saw a male Grey Junglefowl. We also heard strange drumming of a woodpecker but couldn’t find the drummer.

Soon we reached Abhi and we continued by bus to a parking place of the zoo (the tickets were 5 rupees and a camera 25 rupees – so we paid only Hannas camera). We walked around the whole zoo area and then behind it in a good forest for some hours. The best observations were 3 Speckled Piculets, many Asian Paradise Flycatchers (also beautiful white morph birds!), White-rumped Shamas, many common blue ones, bulbuls and babblers, I saw also a Forest Wagtail. One of the funniest observations was a Wild Boar that had an appointment with 2 Large-billed Crows. It really wanted to get to a sunny spot where we were standing and when we realized to let it come there 2 crows flew immediately there and started to eat insects from it.

When we were back in a parking place we drove a little bit downwards and stopped to try to find a Blue-capped Rock Thrush which we hadn’t found from the zoo. First Abhi found a beautiful Velvet-fronted Nuthatch and soon also a female Blue-capped Rock Thrush! Great!

From the bus we saw a male Grey Junglefowl and down near a small lake 6 Crested Treeswifts before we went to have a breakfast to a restaurant nearby. The omelet was pretty bad but there were really funny cats in the restaurant.

We had decided to continue our trip for whole day so our next target was a Merck meat factory. We found 6 Oriental Skylarks and some White Wagtails easily. Then we had a lunch in Sahakari spice farm where we also had a tour to world of spices.

After Sahakari Hanna and Maria wanted to get to a shop where local women buys their clothes. And Abhi found a good shop at Ponda. Of course bying these dresses wasn’t very easy, but surprisingly quickly they found local “salwar kamees” dresses. The right ones were found after the seller had shown some 200 hundred differend ones.

We were back in Baga at 5.30 p.m. and after relaxing and dinner we were ready to sleep at 9 p.m.

Arpora and Marinha Dourada

On the next morning when the sun was rising we were already at Arporas Club Cabana. We tried to see some pigeons, because I had seen a couple of brown and green pigeons that I couldn’t identified in our first visit. Now we had luck when we saw a Nilgiri Woodpigeon with Hanna. A couple of Crested Serpent Eagles were soaring and calling on the sky and there were many birds to photograph: Golden-fronted Leafbirds, sunbirds, bulbuls, some Jungle Babblers, but nothing very special.

At 10 o’clock we took a taxi to Marinha Dourada where we tried to find an Oriental Praticole which we had got a message from Abhi. (At the evening Pasi and William told they had seen the bird and it had been a difficult Collared Pratincole.) An Osprey, Wire-tailed Swallows and Small Praticoles were easy to photograph.
Relaxing and the horrible end for the day

We had a late breakfast at Lila’s Café before we continued to our hotel to rest. We even took some sun with Pasi, who was really getting brown. In the evening we walked to Beira Mar with Oriol, girls went to do shopping. It was pretty quiet in Beira but the only real observation was really amazing! I found an Eastern Barn Owl which landed to a telegraph pole. I hardly had time to say to Oriol about the bird when an Indian Pond Heron landed next to the owl to the wire. The Owl got scared, turned around when its wing touched the wire, we heard a strange sound and saw a flash, and the owl dropped to a ground dead! Horrible! A little bit later we saw a Spotted Owlet on the same pole and we could just hold our breath and hope nothing happens!

Its about the time to spend a morning in Baga fields

On the 20th of December we went to Baga fields and walked the same paths than earlier. It was pretty quiet in the beginning, one Booted or Syke’s Warbler was seen breafly but only Clamorous Reed Warbler was found better visible. Other birds were just the same than always in the area.

When we had walked around one pool we saw a small bittern kind of bird flying in front of us. Luckily we found it again and saw it in flight very well and could identify it as a Yellow Bittern!

From the dry parts of the fields we found some singing Oriental Skylarks, big flocks of Short-toed Larks, some Malabar Larks, pipits and a couple of Pintail Snipes.
At 10 a.m. we walked back to hotel and after having breakfast we took the rest of the day easy. We did some shopping and we even spent an hour or two in Baga beach. Of course we had to swim in Indian Ocean.

And last visit to Beira Mar

At the afternoon we had to pack all our luggages but at 4.30 p.m. we went to Beira Mar one more time. A Shikra was sitting in a closest palmtree, munias were in a big flocks with a small flock of Baya Weavers. Hanna managed to see a Baillion’s crake and we saw a couple of Ruddy-breasted Crakes breafly and a couple of Spotted Owlets were sitting in a tree, but then it was time to go the say goodbyes to this amazing place.

Last birding

Next morning was our last in Goa. We should have had a wake up at 6.10 a.m but again we woke up to a knocking to our door. The taxi had arrived too early – 6 oclock. So we had to pack everything in hurry but it took 30 minutes before we were ready to go.

First we drove to Dona Paola which we knew was a dry and ugly deserted area with lots of rubbish and shit everywhere. That was the reason why we hadn’t been there yet. After all it wasn’t as ugly place as we had thought but the smell of burned rubbish was really bad there. Anyway we found easily 3 more tripticks which 2 of them were lifers. First we found about 10 Yellow-wattled Lapwings and 2 small flying flocks of Ashy-crowned Sparrow Larks. In dry sandy area there were also some Tawny Pipits, Malabar, Short-toed and Oriental Skylarks and a couple of Indian Robins. A White-bellied Sea Eagle and a Shikra flew over us.

Because we still had some time we continued to Santa Cruz pools, where were almost the same birds than last time. A Greater Spotted Eagle, an Indian Cormorant, a Pheasant-tailed Jacana, a couple of Paddyfield and Clamorous Reed Warbler were something better.

We had still time before we had to continue to Dabolim airport, so we visited the Mershim lake again. But as we knew there were nothing intersting, some Bronze-winged Jacanas, Lesser Whistling Ducks, Purple Swamphens and Pied Kingfishers were good to see anyway.

Then we had to drive to Dabolim airport because Oriol and Maria had their flight 1.30 p.m. On the way in Cutalim I found a Darter sitting on a dry branch in the middle of a river. It was our last bird observation in Goa and it was really good to get this amazing bird digiscoped.

Oriol and Maria had their flight to Delhi where they were going to spend last 5 days of their holiday. After their plain had left We had still some hours to wait for our flight to Mumbai.

To Mumbai

Now we, of course, used Kingfisher airline and it really was worthy! The plains and all services were from different planet than with Air India or Indian Airlines! Even the food was good! The flight was in schedule and in Mumbai all luggages came without waiting.

At Mumbai airport we walked to hotel booking and took a room from Hotel Benzy Palace, where we got the transportation too.

In the evening we did some shopping in the shops opposite our hotel, Mumbai wasn’t that kind of city I wanted to see more. After the dinner we went to sleep early because next day would be long travelling day.

Very long flights!

On the 22nd day of December we woke up too early again because the hotel phone alarmed 4.50 a.m. The taxi came also 10 minutes too early at 5.20 a.m. We packed all our luggages to the taxi and soon we were driving to the Air India terminal.

After one hour waiting we realized our flight wasn’t on the screen at all! Only flight to Frankfurt was after 20 hours! And when we asked we heard our flight had been delayed!

We managed to change our fligh so that we had to run to a plain that was just about to leave to Delhi and then going to continue to Frankfurt. At 7.30 we stepped in the plane and then we realized that was a plane that should have been left already 5 a.m. There was something wrong. I sent a message to Oriol if there was something wrong in Delhi. And there was a thick fog in Delhi, so that was the reason nothing was happening, but the officers never said it.

So we sat down in an extremely hot plane for more than 3 hours but nothing happened! Captain said several times that we would go in 10 minutes but nothing happened before some local people really came angry! It was really chaotic but luckily the plane started to move before the fight really started. At 11.15 the plane finally left towards Delhi, after some people had been sitting in a plane for more than 6 hours!

At 1.10 p.m. we landed to Delhi where we just sat in the plane while the officers were cleaning. Only good thing was that we saw a Black-shouldered Kite from the plain window. This was the 296th species for us in India!

Finally our plane left towards Frankfurt at 3.15 p.m. The flight was extremely boring and the service was really bad! Again the movies were horrible (Surviving Christmas and so on). At 6.50 local time we landed to Frankfurt, where we realized we were already 40 minutes late from our next (already once changed) flight to Helsinki.
Luckily we got the last 2 places to the last plane to Helsinki and after eating in MacDonalds we ran long way to our port. At 9.15 p.m. we finally left towards Finland where we landed 1 a.m. And 2 a.m. our trip was at its end when we finally were in my parents house in Kirkkonummi. It was good to go to sleep to a bed with soft mattress!!!

J.A.

Tripreports

Janne ja Hanna Aallon lintusivut

Category Archives: India

India, Rajasthan and Gujarat 5th to 18th of February 2025

India, Goa 6th to 22nd of December 2005

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